Live Long and Prosper
by Enjeru
Summary: YGO contest entry, Round Three; Protectshipping. Their planet's race was dying, they were on a mission across the universe, seek out new lifeforms to co-inhabit thier planet. The saddest goodbye is the one never uttered.


The title is a Star Trek reference, that in itself should make the oneshot **_awesome_**! xD

Anyway, this monster took two days to write, I spent most of the week barely thinking about the contest and then bam Thursday afternoon came and I thought, holy crap, I have a story to write!

Important Note: The general idea I had seems more like a multi-chapter fanfic, so my biggest challenge was trying to create an ending that was suitable for a oneshot. I'll let you all be the judge on how that turned out.

Disclaimer: I can see clearly now the rain is gone~!

YGO contest entry three; Protectshipping! (**Honda** x **Ryou**)

I got a friend to beta read this (so hopefully that means there'll be no errors in it *crosses fingers*) and she drew a picture for it! :-D Hooray!

http:/ twilightsguardian . deviantart . com / art / Ryou-Colored-182072641 (as always remove the spaces)

Enjoy!

* * *

Traveling through space was a stunning adventure, speeding past billions of stars, admiring the planets of the local galaxies. To operate on a S.S. ship was an honor in itself, to be able to witness the beauty of the eternal vast 'sky', not to mention that such a profession was highly looked upon back home.

Home…

"My Prince," a crew member stood just beyond my cabin door, I could see past him to the orderlies rushing about in the corridors.

"Yes, Private?"

"The Captain requests your presence on the bridge." With a nod and a dismissive hand he was gone and I was left again to the peace of my guest room. I barely slept anymore, just sat near the window watching the world go by, how I longed to be home again.

Gently tapping the glass I counted yet another planet to pass by, red and barren with two moons slowly being pulled by gravity to their demise. This planet along with the nine before it lacked any life forms, another failure…

With a sigh I rose to address the Captain, brushing back fitted cloth into place, being as presentable as I could appear in royal garb, I made my way to the ship's bridge. The walls of the ship were pitch black; it hurt my eyes to look at them as if straining the muscle to recognize pigment within those walls would in fact drain my irides of their own precious coloring. I tried making eye contact with the people, they too were hard to look at; dark and neutral, no brightness to them, no color. It's what bored me so about the people of my world.

"Captain!" addressing my arrival, the crew members bowed their heads in my direction. The Captain himself, already standing, bowed at the waist with a great arching swing of his arm, his foot pushing far behind him…polite or not, he looked ridiculous!

"My Prince, we are in luck!" Words I have equally dreaded and longed to hear. "The next planet in this solar system seems to be inhabited." The excitement in his voice was evident but I, myself, held my breath for disappointment.

"Are they…?"

"Yes," the Captain looked at me with relief, "our scanners read positive, they are bipeds."

My breath caught in my throat, my own shock rendering me speechless. At long last! Years, decades, even centuries spent traveling in hopes to find a planet, _just one_ with bipedal mammals living on it, oh how my ancestors would be proud of this discovery, maybe our race would be saved after all.

"Your orders, Prince Atem?"

"Prepare the transporters; we dock on its moon in four hours."

* * *

Kaiba walked briskly down the ship's third level, scanning the names scribed on the sheets lining his clipboard with annoyance. He recognized many of the family names listed and while honorable lines of lineage, if he recalled, some of these family's current generations were laughable at best.

'To think they allowed these fools on this mission. This isn't a game; the future of our planet is at stake here!' With a growl, he entered the bed chambers of the cadets stationed on the floor. About twenty faces turned, once they realized their commander had entered, the cadets flew from their bunks to salute him. Taking note of the number he grew even more aggravated, one third of the team from this room was missing.

"Alright, you dweebs, listen up!" he tapped his foot expectedly, not even bothering to look up from his clip board, "We'll be docking shortly, understand that all the training we've given you will not guarantee your safety nor your success. You'll be given half of one of these planet's days, approximately twelve hours, to find a suitable partner. Look for healthy, ripe, _young_ females and bring them aboard, use force if you must. Scanners show their technological advances are minimal and pose no threat to us; therefore negotiations with them are not necessary."

Icy blue eyes looked out at the younger males and he suppressed the urge to roll them at their eager faces, "I trust there are no further questions? Good." He turned, heading back out the door, intent on briefing yet another cadet bunker room, "Try your best to capture multiples."

Honda stood still for a few minutes, not joining his younger teammates in excited whispers, chancing a glance to his right he caught sight of the only other older male on the team; Ryuji. His face was scrunched up in frustration, unlike most of the males chosen for this mission, he was not a commoner or soldier; he was a member of the High Families.

'A priss,' Honda added to himself, he tensed when Ryuji caught his eye, 'Such brilliant green eyes', (colored eyes being a gene of the higher up families of their planet). Rare and magnificent. Honda was of the noble soldier class, but like commoners his family's eyes were murky brown, unexciting and unattractive.

Ryuji huffed and turned away from the other man's gaze, flipping his dark hair over his shoulder and swinging his small hips with alluring grace. Honda licked his lips, watching the stuck up bitch walk off,

'The everyday joys of being bunked with your ex.'

_

* * *

_

Tokyo, Japan. December 22_nd__, 2000._

"What should I get him for Christmas?"

"Who?"

"Bakura."

Anzu nearly spit out the sip she took of her bottled lemonade, looking at her friend flabbergasted, "Ryou, you can't be serious!" The white haired male (though since a month ago he'd obtained pink bangs) just smirked,

"Gomen, but the look on your face was priceless!" Ryou laughed behind a glove covered hand as the pair, arm in arm, continued window shopping through the shopping district. The brunette dancer huffed,

"You don't owe that bastard anything…" she muttered darkly, Ryou merely nodded use to his friend's negative attitude towards his older brother. In all honesty, no one had positive things to say about Bakura…well except maybe his newest boy toy. A slow grin worked its way back on Ryou's face, speaking of boy toy,

"What should I get Malik for Christmas?"

Ryou was satisfied to watch Anzu suddenly drop her bottle and spill her lemonade everywhere.

* * *

Honda arrived at the one of the main three transporter rooms located on the ship, an abnormal amount for a typically S.S. vessel, but with the ship's crew capacity at its max and the success of their mission depending heavily upon time and efficiently, the added beaming pads were compulsory. The rest of cadets lacking at the briefing (and most likely punished for it) had now joined his team and the neighboring bunker teams. With the chances of finding bipeds so low it was essential that they make use of any they happen upon, numbers were what the captains were interested in.

Honda caught movement out of the corner of his eye and his soldier instinct is what had him bowing fluidly with the rest of the crowd before he could even comprehend the Prince's arrival. His eyes strained on the ground, his senses focused on the echoing sound of the Prince's footsteps, the only noise within the whole room. Honda was sure the soldiers next to him could hear his heartbeat, this was the moment they'd be waiting for; this was it!

Atem gestured for the Captain to rise once he had made it to the beaming pad in the middle of the crowded room, blowing a whistle the Captain then motioned the crew to raise as well. Atem looked at them all, spotting Kaiba and Ryuji, colored eyes were a relieving site, though it was a shame such high families still produced children with such dark hair. Atem didn't dare look at the rest of the group, colorless and unattractive, prime examples of why their raced had to make this trip, new genes to be mixed in before all that is left is the muddled pigment of the commoners; before it was too late.

"You've been briefed on your mission, twelve hours, set your clocks now. While on this foreign planet it's a one man show, you look out for yourself and yourself alone. However, the last thing we need to lose more of our race's elite," he fought to keep from grimacing at that and if not for the fact he was on the spot he would of flipped Kaiba off for smirking so smugly at him, "keep your wit about you and be back here before the ship's departure."

Kaiba took the stage as the Prince boarded the transporter pad, "You heard the man, let's nobody die today!" The Prince's five appointed court men followed him to stand upon the beaming pad with him, Kaiba (being the sixth) stood back to usher cadets through safely.

Atem took a deep breath as the pad locked in on their bio signals, the nervousness he'd been pushing off suddenly exploding, settling unpleasantly in his stomach, he was afraid. It was not these bipeds, nor their technology, their way of life, nor their dying planet that scared him; it was the unknown that terrified him so. 'Would they be successful?'

* * *

Anzu laid a chaste kiss on her friend's cheek, a puff of hot breath visible in the cold air, "I'll see ya after winter break okay?" She turned and hurried down the front steps, unwary of the icy trail that lay hidden underneath the falling snow. "Don't forget to call me, you pansy."

Shaking his head with a bemused smile he entered the front door as quickly as he could while balancing two bags full of colorfully wrapped gifts. Sighing in relief to the warm air he proceeded to brush the fallen snow out of his ponytail, scrapping his boots along the entrance rug to dislodge the sludge.

The apartment building was actually pretty nice for two teenagers, it helped that their father pays for half the rent, Ryou just wish Bakura would treat it better than he did, surely they were going to get charged for all the chain smoking his brother did in his bedroom.

Traveling up the elevator he was relieved that the incoming storm had already pressured people back into their homes, though he did his best to leave good impressions on his neighbors, most still associated him as 'Bakura's brother' and it goes pretty much downhill from there.

"I'm home," Ryou called out walking into the living room of his own apartment and hissing at the scene, "shit!"

Bakura, lounging in the corner of the couch, took a swig at the beer bottle in his hand before looking up at Ryou through half-lidded chocolate eyes. The coffee table was littered with empty bottles similar to the one in his brother's hand, shards of broken ember glass were sticking up from the shag carpeting, and the air was so thick with smoke it was actually visible. Bakura smirked and made a reprehending movement of his finger,

"Now now, Ryou shouldn't be using such vulgar language."

Ryou chose to ignore that statement, "Look at this mess, Bakura!" Bakura's grin didn't fade, he merely purred as he looked around the living space with approval.

"It's Kitten's birthday tomorrow, we decided to start celebrating ahead of schedule." The older male started petting the sandy-blonde male passed out sprawled across his lap, Ryou shook his head and picked his shopping back up from where he had dropped it. Malik turned 20 tomorrow; he'd be legally able to drink with Bakura to his heart's content,

'Not that they haven't been doing that for the past two months anyway,' Ryou thought as he shuffled across the carpet with his shoes still on, he wasn't about to step on broken glass. Bakura watched him go; eventually his line of sight caught the bags in his little brother's hands.

"What'cha got there, Bunny?"

Ryou twitched briefly at the nickname before continuing on his way to his bedroom,

"Are they presents for your amazing big brother? Huh?"

"Go fuck yourself, Bakura!" Ryou threw over his shoulder; Bakura heard the slam of his brother's bedroom door and took another tentative drink from his bottle. Looking down at Malik, the younger male's head nestled comfortably in Bakura's lap, he thought out loud to himself.

"Hm, he seems upset…" the reason why escaping the older brother at the moment, "We should probably stop having sex on his bed, Kitten."

* * *

Honda could put beaming right up there with space travel on his 'Things I Never Want to Do _Ever_ Again' list. The sensation of being disassemble to particles and reassemble in a completely different location, it just was not a pleasant feeling. Looking around he appeared to of been teleported into what looked like a living shelter, flexing his limbs to make sure everything was there he took his first step around the room. Testing the gravity and atmosphere, though the latter had been confirmed before beaming,

'Have to tell them their scanners are off, the air tastes a bit foggy…'

Feeling safe now in the foreign room, he took note of the personal items, what looked like books sat neatly on a shelf, there were so many! 'The one who lives here must be a scholar of some sort.' Trailing his hand along the bed frame, along the wall, and across the desk Honda paused at the two pictures frames there. One with silver metal link framing and some sort of winged animal frozen in mid flight, the actual picture was of two females, the first a bit taller and lankier with blue eyes.

Honda gasped and snatched the frame up from closer inspection, indeed her eyes were blue and her box cut hair was brown but light like his own, her figure defiantly suggested healthy, ripe, and young; a perfect specimen on his first go? Amazing! Indeed this planet's bipeds were bountiful in their genetics!

Honda turned his gaze to the other female in the photo, smaller and skinner, with white hair though the bangs look as if they've bleed. Honda breath caught in his throat, she had green eyes…

Green eyes…how he was a sucker for such eyes.

"Go fuck yourself, Bakura!" Honda looked up in surprise as the very green eyed beauty he had been admiring entered the room, even more stunning in person. Slamming the door, the teen dropped his two bags near the closet, reaching into his hair to remove the rubber band holding it up, turning around he caught sight of Honda…and screamed.

* * *

Malik's head shot up and he looked around widely, Bakura too lean his head back towards his brother's screaming. Malik looked at his 'boyfriend' with distress, clawing at his shirt as he fumbled to separate from the older male,

"Thought you would've been out all night with the way you were chuggin' em down." Malik shook his head and grimaced instantly regretting it, as soon as Bakura had him steady on his feet the Egyptian made a mad dash for the bathroom. Hearing the familiar sound of vomiting coming from said bathroom, Bakura weighted his options, hold back the hair of his sickly play thing or see what the devil his little brother was shouting on about. Lighting another cigarette he strolled towards his brother's bedroom.

* * *

Ryou did the first thing his panicked brain could think of at the moment; cower and scream for help. When Honda tried to approach him in an attempt to calm him, Ryou then responded violently, grabbing whatever was in reach and chucking it at the stranger in his bedroom.

Honda took to the other end of the bed, ducking behind it in hopes that eventually the scared teen would run out of things to throw at him. All his training on handling this very situation vanished the moment he was thrust into it, 'Come on Honda, think! How do I calm her down?'

Both occupants of the room froze at the sound of Bakura's voice on the other side of the door, "Yo, Buns, what the hell's going on in there?"

"Bakura!" Ryou voice went shrill, he went lunging for the door, but Honda was faster. He grabbed hold of the white hair teen and threw him backwards onto the bed. The brunette soldier faced the door when he noticed the door handle start to turn, from what he knew males got protective of females, he must prevent the male from becoming an interference.

Whatever Bakura was expecting on the other side of the Ryou's bedroom door, it surely wasn't a punch to the face. The elder brother went down easy, consuming large amounts of alcohol already having him down the path to unconsciousness; Honda's right hook was just the finishing shove into snoozeville. Ryou squeaked, yes squeaked, and pulled himself tightly into a ball, positive that this man was going to beat on him next. Whimpering he closed his eyes and waited, just waited…

The pain never came.

Peeking one eye open he saw the man sitting on the opposite side of the bed adjusting a small gold clip on to his left ear, now that he was taking the chance to take in the man's appearance he looked weird. As Honda fiddled with the translator he just fashioned to his ear, Ryou sized the stranger up. His ears for example, they were a bit too big for his face and the tips were pointed. He had sharp canines, the tips of his top pair resting stark white against pale lips. The man's eyes were slitted, like cat eyes, and his clothing! Rich fabric and protective gear (like armor) woven smoothly into the outfit the stranger was wearing in full.

'Oh kami,' Ryou thought, 'I'm getting robbed by an insane otaku!' Ryou promptly fainted.

* * *

When the human boy regained consciousness it was to the sound of many voices, all talking at once. The noise made his head hurt and part of him just wanted to go back to sleep and not deal with whatever was going on around him. Slowly his common sense kicked in and started shooting rapid fire questions through his mind, making it therefore impossible to get back to sleep, he was forced to open his eyes; how he wish he hadn't.

He wasn't sure where he was, the walls were sleek and clean, some kind of dark metal. The room lacked much else decor, there wasn't any furniture, but that was hardly Ryou's main concern. The room was currently full to the brim with multiple females, most of them scrambling about, as best they could in the crowded space, and shouting out in several languages Ryou couldn't even recognize.

He felt his stomach drop, nauseous only beaten out by total confusion; he sat up and backed up against a wall. Where was he? What was going on? Who were these girls? The noisy panic within his own head added to his already tortured ear drums, pressing his hands defensively around them couldn't block out their screams of fright, somewhere a small child was crying, he started to feel nauseous again.

"You okay there, kid?" the familiar sound of his native tongue within this sea of noise startled him so, his head shot up and promptly banged backwards against the wall, the blonde woman winced at bit as she watched him, "ouch."

Sitting down beside him, the older woman nudge his elbow with hers gently, he rubbed his head and peek one eye open at her, her busty body squeezed into a small brown tunic, now that he noticed _everyone_ was dressed the same. Ryou didn't have to look down to realize he too had been changed, the blonde grinned at his expression knowingly.

"You're lucky you weren't awake for that particular part." She extended a hand, "Name's Mai, Mai Kujaku. Please tell me you speak Japanese, and I haven't been babbling nonsense to ya for the past two minutes." Ryou shook his head slowly,

"No, no…I'm Ryou…w-where…where are we?"

Mai shrugged, crossing her arms, "From what I've been told, we've all become chosen mates."

"Huh?"

"We're captured brides." Ryou's jaw hit the floor, Mai didn't take notice and continued without pause, "These 'beings' or whatever they are, snatched us up and are now taking us back to their planet."

"…you're kidding, right?"

"Wish I was Kid, honestly I'm still waiting to wake up from it all." She gave him a quizzical look, "Question is; why are you here?"

Suddenly feeling on the spot, he tugged nervously at the hem of the tunic (that rides a little too far up for his tastes), "I don't know, wha-what do you mean by that?"

"You're a boy."

* * *

"Honestly, Ryuji that's why royals shouldn't be on this trip, you put them in a hunt and they come back-"

"With a blind chick!" The two merchants recruited into this team both burst out laughing at their bunkmate's expense, Ryuji face was as red as their planet's sun. He shook his fists in frustration, embarrassment permanently inscribed on his face since the others found out just whom he had brought back aboard as his captive. "What happened, Ryuji, burn her human eyes with your _gorgeous_ looks, ha!" That does it!

"She's young and colorful; her sight impairment shall cause our offspring no trouble for they will all inherit my luscious eyes!" He turned on his heel and walked off with his head held high, the two commoners laughing even harder at the vain retort.

"Haha, oh, my sides-!" Honda rolled his eyes at the other men's actions and exited the bunker room, traveling down the halls to the level just below them where the 'humans' (as they've now been indentified) were kept locked away.

Honda felt bad about whisking his prize away, for what he had heard from the others none of their chosen females had fainted, each one got an explanation to what was to become of them (whether they agreed or not didn't matter). Honda had thought himself above the others, he was a soldier after all, but he never realized how incredibly awkward socially he was. As soon as his white haired beauty had fainted he panicked, teleporting back hours before he was expected. If anything he should have gone back for more, some of the men returning with five or six, the Prince himself had gathered about ten for himself.

'What a failure,' Honda sighed to himself, though it was too late now to berate himself over it. He made a mistake, his nerves got the best of him, and eventually it would come back to bite him in the ass but for now he'd do his best to work with what he had.

Every head within the chamber turned when the door opened, Honda slipped in and the door shut once more before any of the girls could make a move to escape. Ryou jumped up without thought, the sight of the stranger possibly suggested a chance for a better explanation but then it occurred to him this man was the one that had brought him to this terrible place. Ryou made to duck down and hide from Honda's searching gaze, but the soldier had already made a bee line for the cowering teen.

Grabbing his forearm, Honda pulled the boy back to the door, the girls around them started to crowd them, desperate for their escape. As soon as the soldier opened the door though, two guards with long poles generating a mild dose of electrical pulses stunned the females, shoving them back into the room like cattle. Ryou could only look on horrified at the mistreatment as the stranger dragged him down the ship's halls.

He was, for the second time that day, shoved onto a bed. Honda stood at the door, entering a code into its keypad, Ryou assumed he was locking it. Glancing to the only light source in the room, a small window, Ryou's eyes widened at the site of the Earth and the Sun far off in the distance. Mai couldn't possibly be right, could she? This was all some trick it couldn't be real!

Honda sat on the bed next to Ryou, feeling a bit unsure on how to introduce himself, he fingered the gold translator still clipped to his ear.

"Hello."

The boy didn't take notice to the alien conversing next to him, his vision blurred as tears overwhelmed his eyes, he was being kidnapped! Honda felt the gap between him and this human grow even more, his eyes were leaking, how was he suppose to respond to that?

"I want to explain," he had to look away from the boy, "that room…it's to keep the women safe from the men. They are…excited, ya see my race is in danger of dying out." Honda chewed on his bottom lip, "Our females are becoming less fertile, if a mated pair even do successfully achieve pregnancy child births have become such a difficult procedure, most of our infants do not survive it." He glanced unsurely at the teen, "We need healthy fertile women, introduce new genes into some of the families within the classes, we hope that the mix will eventually create generations with a higher fertility rate, increase our chances for repopulation."

Ryou started to whimper, no longer trying to fight back the tears; Honda choked on his next sentence at the sight and shifted in his spot uncomfortably. Ryou trembled with raw emotions, anger suddenly fueling his veins, pumping blood almost aggressively through his system.

"Why? Why me?"

Honda gulped, "Uh…well, you're very attractive, you're physic suggest a healthy mating partner-"

"I'm a _**male**_!" Ryou had screamed the phrase so loud that when the words had left his lip so had the air from his lungs, leaving the room silent except for the boy's ragged breathing.

'This,' Honda thought, 'would be that bite in the ass.'

_

* * *

_

This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.

* * *

Honda watched the distressed boy quiver and started to pace the room, this was bad. Honda was not use to making mistakes; he was always precise about his work and sufficient at getting things done, he didn't make mistakes. Yet, here was his first mistake, Honda would even go as far as saying his biggest mistake, sitting right in front of him. How could he have not known this human was a man? Surely Ryuji's choice of mate will be nothing compared to this disaster.

"Take me back!" Honda stumbled out of his negative thinking to look at Ryou,

"I can't…" The ship had already set course for his home planet, at faster speeds then when they had hunting down inhabitable planets, the brunette would reckon they were already out of the boy's solar system by now. Honda had no authority to stop the vessel and knew that he and the human would get sympathy from the crew, the Captain, nor the Prince (definitely not the Prince), not to mention he'd be a laughing stock.

Ryou changed his tactics, begging the man that had stolen him to return him to his home, the emotional strain in the young human's voice stirred up guilt within Honda. The women, though captured and kept locked away at the moment, would actually lead well off lives back at his home planet. They would have mates, shelter, food, the female humans would be catered to for the rest of their lives, honored guests to their new families.

But what place did _male_ human have in their world?

Nothing, he would have nothing in the new world, for he was no one's responsibility.

Ryou looked to Honda with desperately hopeful eyes, when he did not answer his pleas he curled in on himself defectively. He thought of all the things he never got to do, the things he never got to see, 'I just got accepted at Tokyo U too!' He started to cry again, 'I'll never see the people I love ever again. Amane, Anzu, and…Bakura.'

"I never even got to say goodbye."

Ryou gasped as strong arms engulfed him, realizing it was the man that was the reason he lost everything he wanted nothing more than to struggled, claw his way out of the man's embrace. But he couldn't, emotional drained and depression slowly engulfing his heart he slumped into those arms, if he had any tears left he was sure he'd have cried on the alien's shoulder as well.

'I must look pathetic right now.'

"I'm sorry," Ryou blinked, twisting in the hug as best he could to look at Honda, "it's my fault and you can hate me for the rest of your life," pulling away Honda looked into the sad green eyes with pity, "but I won't abandon you."

'He's my responsibility…'

"I came looking for a mate and I found one." Ryou looked rather dumbfounded at that, "I can't take back nor change what happened, but I will keep you, you may not give me children," Ryou sputtered and blushed red, "but you are beautiful and a prize nonetheless."

Ryou grumbled at the choice of compliments but put it aside to consider what he was being offered here. Still trying to come to terms with losing his home, he struggled to even _**fathom**_ the thought of a new 'home', it occurred to him it'd be even more difficult on his own.

Ryou wasn't sure how to feel about this, the stranger obviously thought the he hated him, and at the moment he was sure he did. Though the apology (something he wasn't use to living with Bakura), the seemingly genuine guilty eyes, and the warm hands still holding him were making it hard to think straight. Ryou had never felt so heartbroken, confused, exhausted, and hopeful in all his life.

'So this is why all the girls were upset, they must have been feeling the same way, thinking about what they've been ripped from, scared for the future they now had to face.' Ryou figured he had two options here, dwell in the past and eventually drown in his own sorrow (though an appealing thought at the current moment) or make the best of a bad situation, adjust and maybe…someday…the changes would grown on him. No. He couldn't, this wasn't right, this wasn't how it was suppose to be-

'Suck it up, Ryou.' Bakura's favorite demand of him, 'When are you gonna become a man?' How many times had his brother accused him of being a 'wimp'? Too many times. Remembering the women crying out in distress in the chamber room, he knew one thing for certain; he didn't want to live in misery forever, he'd seen firsthand how it effect his brother and the destructive ways he took to escape it. More than his distress over his loss, Ryou knew he didn't want to become like that. Silently he could hear just beyond those memories, 'You're stronger than this.' Wiping vigorously at his eyes he nodded his head. Ryou's eyes refocused and he looked the alien up and down, taking in his appearance once more, whether he liked it or not, he would be needing this man by his side.

Honda started seeing the smallest spark of determination in the boy's eyes, Ryou take a shaky breath, pushing down the tidal wave of emotion to address his decision,

"So, what's your name?"

Honda gave a relieved smile; it was a good enough answer for him, letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding with it turning into a puff of laughter as well. Ryou too managed (just barely) a smile for his new mate, unbeknownst to them both, it was the first of many to come.

* * *

Phew, done!

Notes:

*Atem refers to Mars as the 10th planet so far (by mentioning the "nine planets before it") that's in theory if all were aligned and if they were traveling towards the sun, then they have already past 4 major planets and 5 dwarf ones.

*Irides: another plural for iris and I think it sounds so much better than irises.

*Technically if we continue with the planets being aligned theory, then the distance from the moon to Mars would be about 80 million km, resulting in the time to get there (in a modern NASA space rocket) a little over 3 months. But seeing as this _is_ a fanfic (with hints of star trek/advance alien technology) we're gonna pretend it'll only take 4 hours.

*After I wrote the first scene, I decide I just couldn't write Honda as royalty, that character had to be Atem/Yami Yuugi. So I considered just nixing that scene, but it seemed more solid an introductory then just having Honda's introduction scene.

*Dweebs: haha, I still find it hilarious that 4kids dubs that as a Seto Kaiba line, _repeatedly_! xD

*Age wise, I'm putting Ryou at about 19, Bakura at 22, and Malik turning 20. Japan's legal drinking/purchasing age is 20.

*From what I can tell it doesn't snow often in the Tokyo area, if it does it usually doesn't occur before mid-December, and once it snows it's usually gone within a day or two.

* "Let's nobody die today!" -Avatar quote

*The beaming pad locked on their bio signals/disassemble and reassemble particles: I'm actually not really sure _how_ a Star Trek beaming pad works *shrugs*

*Ryou cussing is so…weird! *shudders* It sounds so wrong coming from him, 'and yet strangely errotic!' –YGOTAS quote (*re-watching the series*)

*I had long finished the story before realizing that if someone had changed Ryou into his tunic someone would of noticed he was a male, I'm just gonna pretend whoever changed him wasn't Honda and ignore this scene completely. Lalalalala~!

*I decided not to include a guard vs. Honda scene (seeing as I wanted the rule 'no contact while females until further orders from the Captain' type thing going on) because I can't really figure out a reason he'd gain entrance over anyone else without it seeming incredibly cheesy

*I like "kicker" lines, as I call them, basically an ending line that just brings a big BANG to wrap the whole story up. And because I was having trouble decided exactly where to end it, I feel I was gypped out of a stellar kicker line. :(

* * *

(A Little Something Extra)

Scene #1:

The second picture on the desk was actually partially hidden from view. It showed Ryou and Bakura when they were younger, Bakura thirteen years old and Ryou ten years old. It was mid-summer, Bakura was smiling confidently at the camera, sporting a blue and white striped shirt and his new black windbreaker with pride. Ryou was the opposite, appearing shy in his plain light green shirt with faded cream sweater vest, he stood in front of his older brother though the look on his face suggested he wanted to hide behind his grinning counterpart. Bakura was partially leaning on his younger brother, right arm curled affectionately around the younger boy's shoulders and with a glint in his eye, his left hand sprouted infamous 'bunny ears' behind Ryou's head just as the snapshot was taken.

_Bunny_…

Scene #2:

"Are you sure about this?"

Anzu waved her hand trying to convince her friend of the much needed, in her opinion, appearance change.

"You're an attractive guy, Ryou, but you need to spice up your look ever now and then. Trust me you'll love it."

Ryou studied the box of store bought hair dye with unease, "_I'll_ love it or my fan girls will love it?"

Anzu laughed, "Both." Ryou rolled his eyes and gave a playful huff,

"Well, I certainly don't want to disappoint."

Anzu pulled on the towel, acting as an apron, around the teen's neck and readily got to work on his bangs.

"Do remember that if it weren't for me you'd still be wearing those awful sweater vests."

Ryou pouted, "I liked those…they were comfy. Though I do like the new clothes…" he looked down to the black fitted tee and skinny jeans, Anzu didn't bother to tell him that when they went to the mall together he shouldn't shop in the same section as her (the women's section), however they did look good on him so she let it slide. 'Poor niave little Ryou, someone's gonna mistake you for a girl one of these days…oh wait!' She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the thought; Ryou raised an eyebrow at her muffled chuckling.

"But a redhead? Do you really think that's 'me'?"

Anzu just grinned, "Don't worry, if you're not a hundred percent satisfied," she paused as the red dye taking to his white hair was slowly turning lighter, his bangs suddenly becoming a shocking _**pink**_, she trailed off, "you can always grow your hair out."

_Oops…_

**OWARI**


End file.
